Improvement in car-couplings



UNITED STATES- PATENT OEEroE CHARLES C. CONVERSE, OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-COUPLINGS.

Speciiication forming part of Letters Patent No. 144,386, dated November 11, 1873; application filed July 14, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. CONVERSE, of Erie, in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Coupler for Coupling Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specification:

My invention consists in the attachment of a movable cross-bar having one or more pins hin ged' thereto, to the circular draw-head of a railway-car, this instrument receiving the link through its aperture.

As this draw-head is ordinarily constructed, the guidance of a link therein, and the locking of the same with a separate pin is rendered necessary, the doing of which is not only dii-Iicult but dangerous, and has frequently resulted in the loss of life.

My invention is designed to obviate all difficultyand danger in coupling cars, its action being automatic, and requiring no manual guidance. i

This device is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, as follows: The letter A indicates the draw-head. rlhe letters B B* indicate the pins which lock the link. The letter C indicates the movable cross-bar. The letter D indicates the slot in which the cross-bar C moves.

To operate my invention, the cross-bar C should be set so as to bring the pin B against pin B or B* has been caught by the link.

Should the link strike the cross-bar C in its passage, its shape being round, it will be thrown thereby either upward or downward, so as to catch either the pin B or Bi.

The cross-bar C may cross the draw-head A y at an angle, thus facilitating the reception of the link. The cross-bar` C may be ,held in place either by a simple pin, or by a `pin attached to the cross-bar with a spring, or by any y y other equivalent means.

I claim- The combination, in a draw-head, A, of the pins B Bi, and pivoted cross-bar, C, substantially as described.

CHARLES C. CONVERSE.

Witnesses:

F. W. METGALE, L. L. CONVERSE. 

